Explore: Fight Club

August 4, 2006

The second movie in my “spiritual movie series” was Fight Club, which I have enjoyed before. I learned (again) that this movie is not for everyone—but for me, it may be the most outstanding example of a spiritual movie in which the movie itself is not about a spiritual topic. Every time I watch it, it says something new to me.

I was recently asked to describe my vision of The Cult. I found that it’s difficult to come up with the right words and metaphors when you are trying to do off-road spirituality. My first description was, “I want to start a new monastic order.” The second was, “I want to start a fight club.”

Rather than simply write out what I got out of this last viewing, I want to know what you got out of it. The question I pose for the spiritual movie series is: What is the God-story in this movie? And I want to open this to everyone, not just those who came over last Monday. (Don’t feel slighted if you weren’t invited; I just don’t have that much room.)

3 responses to Explore: Fight Club

Like you, I get something new out of it every time. And I have seen it somewhere in the range of 40 times. Some things always stand out.
– The things you own end up owning you
– You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your f*^&ing khakis.
– If you were to die right now, what would you regret not doing?
– This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.
– Its not until you lose everything that you are free to do anything
– When someone has a near life experience (nearly dies), the next day is the most beautiful day of their lives.
and, sort of most poiniently:
– Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
What’s the god story in this? I don’t know if *I* get a god story, but I do get the solid message that the stuff (or STUFF as you said in your next post) has become god to people. Also, the crazy barriers that we put up, and the limitations we put on ourselves because of the insanity cause by society have become part of this god. It’s the society god, and it rules our lives more than any metaphysical god ever will again.
It gives me a goal though too: No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide. (Tyler’s plan)
That is what I work on. Now it’s up to each of us to determine what it is that “truly matters”. For you, Jon, it may be becomming closer to your God. For me, it may be balancing living as much as I can with being a good human.
I think making your own Fight Club, with this goal in mind, is the best thing you can do for your church, Jon. It may develop a level of focus that has been lacking in the lives of your fellow church goers.
yeah… athiest out.

So much of FC is about *identity* — who are you? If you’re not the contents of your wallet, who are you? If life is more than work and you are more than what you do, who are you? His name is Robert Paulson… who are you?
So much about following Christ has to do with identity too… who were you, who are you? Who is Christ, and who is Christ in you? Where is your value? What were you made for? Why is relationship so important? Who is my neighbor?
So maybe that’s not the god-story per se, but FC raises for me in a sense the opposite question — it causes me to ask myself about the ‘me-story’… who am I? How does God see me? What things have I accepted as part of my identity that really shouldn’t be there?